The Blacks Visit Lafayette

December 2012 was truly a fabulous month! 

HAPPY NEW YEAR by the way! Jamie and I spent our New Years at home with Sonic desserts in hand, watching movies, cuddling with our puppy, feeling baby kick, and listening to the hours and hours of fireworks being blown up around us. It sounded like WWIII outside. Very festive, Louisiana. 

Anyways, I loved this past December, because we had lots of visitors! First of all, my college girlfriends came to visit which you can read about here and here. And this past weekend, our great friends from Memphis came for a visit! We have been talking about them visiting ever since we moved here and we finally made it happen! 

Last time we saw Phillip and Emily was when their sweet baby boy was just 8 weeks old. You can read about our Memphis visit here. He was born at the end of February, and Phillip and Emily needed him to be a smidgen older before they take on the daunting task of driving 8 hours with a newborn. But they did it! 

Our friends arrived in rainy ol' Lafayette Friday morning around 11:30. They left their house around 4 in the morning so that baby Ethan would sleep, and so we could spend the day together. 

Right when they got here, we got pizza at Deano's--mmm mmm good! Then the boys played video games. Ethan took a snooze. Emily and I looked at rocking chairs at Babies R Us (and then sat in the rocking chairs for over an hour talking and rocking) and then got pedicures. I'd say that makes for a pretty spectacular Friday. We then made dinner and hung out at the apartment for the night. Perfect day! 

Saturday morning, we moseyed around for a while, munching on some Cinnamon Roll Coffee Cake: 

                                                

Here is the recipe: Coffee Cake 

Then we made our way to Walk Ons for lunch and headed to Baton Rouge. The boys saw The Hobbit in the IMAX theater and Emily and I went shopping. We both had great success at DSW (easily done) and then went to Perkins Rowe where we just walked around and froze our buns off. 

Here are a few pictures from Saturday: 

Baby Ethan, not too stoked to be all bundled up: 

Mama Emily and Baby E:

No crying, sweet boy:

Me, Emily and Ethan before lunch:

I love this girl so much!

We rounded out Saturday evening with dinner at Zea in Baton Rouge and then headed home for another relaxing evening.

Sunday morning, we all woke up ready for another fun day together.

Good morning, sweet Ethan:

"Mama, where's my food?":

Leia was LOVING Ethan, because he kept dropping food for her:

"Miss Abby, your face is awfully scary in the morning."

"What's that you say to be, baby boy?!"

"Gimme some food" 

So glad I got to love on this little bundle of 10 month sweetness:

Once I have baby girl, their birthdays will be pretty close together!

Lulu, look how cute you are, posing for the camera:

My dog was LOVING Ethan! I mean...really loving.

I was kind of nervous about it, since she's never around babies, but she was pretty good with Ethan, except for a little bit of dominant behavior. But that's better than aggressive behavior, I must say.

She was just giving him lots of kisses here and there:

Snuggles on the kitchen floor:

"Listen dog, no means no!" 

Me and my sweet, precious friend:

We were kindred spirits in Memphis:

So very glad I met you and I'm so very glad we've stayed in touch since I moved:

On Sunday morning, we had breakfast at T-Coon's...sooooo good, and then the boys played Mario Brothers while Emily and I went shopping again. :) It's what we do best. 

Baby E got to hang with the boys:

This is what they did for many hours this weekend:

Mama Em and sleepy baby E: 

Look at my begger dog:

Trying to steal food from a baby:

This picture kind of melted my heart. Ethan kept trying to get up on Jamie's lap, so Jamie pulled him on up there. After a few minutes of content sitting, he did a giant sneeze all over Jamie's hand. And heaven forbid Jamie clean off his hands--he was busy playing video games. But it was hilarious! Ethan then clapped for himself, applauding his funnies:

Ethan and Leia had some cuddles in Leia's doggy bed, while looking at the window:

This moment was when my heart really melted:

I took a lot more pictures than that, but I think Emily and I were the only ones who found them beyond precious. I truly am so glad Leia was good with Ethan, because it gives me hopes that she'll be a good pup when Sweet Pea arrives.

We had an absolute BALL with Phillip and Emily and are so grateful for such fantastic friends. It is rare to have friends where both husband and wife really get along with both spouses of another couple. It's a hard fit sometimes. But we're a great fit and I'm so thankful for our friendship. We've already been planning more trips in our future--Vegas, Disneyworld, cruise...and more. This is a forever friendship. Love you guys so much!

Jamie and I had an excellent weekend, and finished it off with cuddle time on the couch:

Happy New Year, everyone! Hope you stayed safe and had a great time with people you love! Love you!